The
NHS has always given free health care to UK residents. Its founding
principles were healthcare free for all, regardless of ability to
pay. This was a universal right, which applied to all who lived in
Britain.
Under
the Immigration Act 2014, the government is planning to charge
certain migrants for GP and emergency treatment. Non-EU migrants and
students will be forced to pay before being allowed NHS treatment,
and refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants will be
excluded from many crucial services.
This
will fundamentally undermine the right to healthcare enjoyed by all
since 1948, and ultimately
hurt all of us.
Instituting
this scheme will drive vulnerable migrants away from NHS services. It
will force doctors and health services to question peoples
immigration status, to ascertain whether they have the right piece of
paper which guarantees them the free treatment we currently enjoy. No
one should be afraid to go to the doctor, either because they can’t
pay or might be punished. No
doctors should not have to police the people they treat.
The
costs of this could be immense. If diseases are untreated, they
spread and become more expensive problems. Its easy to treat a small
cut, or the early stage of a contagious disease. Its much harder, and
more expensive, to treat a gangrenous limb, or treat the many other
patients created because the original infectious patient did not have
easy access to treatment.
The
Government claims these new laws will save the UK money, this is not
true. There is little
accurate research on health tourism.
What little there is points to health tourism bringing in more
money than it costs the NHS.
More
importantly, charging migrants for healthcare is the first step to
normalising charging for everyone. Once the government has a charging
system in place, it becomes much easier to gradually expand this to
everyone else, regardless of nationality. Racism is being used to
undermine our societies commitment to universal healthcare, and the
values of social solidarity which bind our society together.
These
charges and the ideology behind them are based on prejudice, not
evidence.
They scapegoat
migrants
for the problems caused
by government policy
towards the NHS.
The
NHS needs reforms that will help everyone. Not reforms that attack
the vulnerable and will only lead to more charges for all.
The
NHS pledge to universal healthcare has been challenged since its
inception. In this quote from 1952, Nye Bevan could be responding to
Cameron’s attack on the NHS.
Bevan
wrote: “Instead of rejoicing at the opportunity to practice a
civilized principle, Conservatives have tried to exploit the most
disreputable emotions in this among many other attempts to discredit
socialized medicine.”
Bevan
goes on to say how, even if you don’t believe humans have a right
to health and to life, restricting migrants access to the NHS fails
to understand how migrants already contribute through taxes, and the
work they do in society. It is unfounded, racist rhetoric. As Nye
said “The whole agitation has a nasty taste”.
These
laws destroy the original values of the NHS; for treatment based on
need, not ability to pay or nationality.
Docs
Not Cops is a group of people who oppose the new laws. We are
fighting to protect the NHS, one of the best things about Britain.
We
are doctors, nurses, HIV activists, students, teachers and laypeople.
Everyone
is invited to join us because these new laws will affect everyone.
The
new law comes into affect on April 6th.
Visit
our website
and become part of the campaign. Organise a stunt or protest at your
local hospital to mark the occasion. Distribute Docs
Not Cops
materials to let staff and patients know what is happening to our
NHS, and get them active in the campaign.
Together
we can roll back this law and maintain healthcare as a universal
right. If we allow this to divide us, it will hurt us for generations
to come.
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